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How PunchOut Works

PunchOut lets a buyer shop a supplier's own catalogue from inside a purchasing document, and have the basket come back as lines on that document.

You are the buyer here. Nothing in PunchOut hosts a catalogue for anybody else and nothing here touches the storefront — this is about buying from suppliers, not selling.

Where to find it

Architect Panel → ERP - Setup:

  • PunchOut Suppliers — the console — suppliers, sessions and returned baskets
  • Documents — the requisition or order the basket returns into
  • Document Types — the document type a session defaults to

The problem it solves

Supplier catalogues are large, change constantly, and are priced under a contract. Importing one into your own system means maintaining a copy that is out of date the day after it lands, and pricing that quietly diverges from what you have agreed.

PunchOut inverts it. You keep no catalogue. The buyer shops the supplier's live site, which already knows the contract prices, and only the chosen items come back.

What a buyer sees

  1. They open a requisition and choose a PunchOut supplier.
  2. The supplier's catalogue opens, already logged in and showing your negotiated prices.
  3. They add items to a basket in the supplier's own interface.
  4. They check out — which does not place an order, but returns the basket.
  5. The items appear as lines on the requisition, ready for the normal approval route.

The point that surprises people: checking out on the supplier's site orders nothing. It hands the basket back for approval on your side.

What comes back on a line

Each returned line carries the supplier's part number and auxiliary ID, the manufacturer's part number and name, description, quantity, unit price, currency, unit of measure, a classification code, lead time, and any contract or quote reference.

Those part numbers matter. An order quoting the supplier's own part number is one their system can process without interpretation — which removes the commonest source of wrong deliveries.

Lines are mapped to your items

A returned line can be matched to your own item record, so a purchase feeds stock and reporting normally rather than being a free-text line. Mapping accumulates: map a part once and subsequent baskets recognise it.

Two dialects

Suppliers use one of two conventions — cXML, the more common, and SAP OCI. Both are supported and the difference is handled per supplier. You need to know which one your supplier uses; they will tell you, and it is in their integration guide.

Sessions

Each punch-out creates a session with its own state, recording who opened it, which document it belongs to, when it was opened, what came back, and when it was applied. A session expires, so an abandoned basket does not stay open indefinitely.

Worked example

An engineer raising a requisition for consumables punches out to the stationery supplier, adds nine items, and checks out. Nine lines appear on the requisition with the supplier's part numbers, contract prices and lead times. Their manager approves it, and the approved order goes back to the supplier electronically — with no rekeying and no catalogue to maintain.

Recommendations

  • Confirm the dialect with the supplier before configuring.
  • Map returned lines to your items so purchases reach stock and reporting.
  • Explain that checkout returns a basket — buyers expect it to place the order.
  • Start with one supplier and prove the round trip before adding more.